Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan Program

About the Bridge Loan

The Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan program uses $11 million in state funds to provide gap funding to Utah’s small business and nonprofit entities.

The bridge loan round one, from March 31 to April 3, was for Utah headquartered for-profit businesses. A total of 1,031 completed the application process, submitting all required information before the April 3 noon deadline. 500 applicants will receive a total of $6,105,500 in Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan funds. 27% of round one funds were awarded to rural businesses.

During round two, loan applications were accepted from Utah for-profit and 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, from April 13 at 8 a.m. to April 16 at noon (MDT). Eligible, but unsuccessful round one completed applications are automatically considered for round two funding.

Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan amounts range from $5,000 to $20,000 with 0% interest for up to a 60-month period. Loan amounts shall not exceed three months of demonstrated operating expenses. Loan payments are deferred for 12 months.

GOED will use a minimum of 25% of its bridge loan fund to support rural Utah businesses and nonprofits (not located along the Wasatch Front: Weber, Davis, Salt Lake or Utah counties).

WCF Insurance established the WCF Foundation several years ago to support local communities. The WCF Foundation has donated $1 million to the Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan to help Utah’s small business community at this challenging time. With the addition of the WCF Foundation’s donation, the bridge loan program’s total funding is $12 million.

Does My Business or Nonprofit Qualify?

The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development is offering a bridge loan to Utah-headquartered businesses and 501(c)3 nonprofits impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and with 50 or fewer employees.

Preference for funding will be given based on the following:

Businesses and nonprofits that have experienced severe economic impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entities that can demonstrate a multiplier impact on other industries.

Applicants must demonstrate financial stress or disrupted operations, which may include but are not limited to:

Notices from tenants closing operations and not paying rent caused by loss of income.

Notice of inability to pay rent or make loan payments due to reduced sales or suspended operations.

Increased costs related to COVID-19 prevention measures.

Notice of disrupted supply network leading to a shortage of critical inventory or materials.

Other circumstances subject to review on a case-by-case basis.

GOED will determine the eligibility of applicants. Applying is not a guarantee of funding. GOED will notify all applicants of loan status, to be awarded or denied, the week following their application via email.

Businesses must be established and licensed before January 1, 2020, and in good standing with the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code (will be verified here).

Applicants must have employees on their payroll for whom they have had payroll taxes withheld (i.e., W-2 employees).

Applicants must provide six months proforma of estimated lost revenue or other documented loss evidence.

Businesses must have 50 or fewer employees.

No collateral requirements.

Eligible loan uses include working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses, or other similar expenses that occur in the ordinary course of operations.

Receiving other forms of emergency funding will not disqualify an applicant from receiving loan funds through this program. Still, companies are asked to disclose if they have applied for emergency funding from other sources.

Required Information

The following required documents and information are part of the application:

Financial statements: profit and loss, and balance sheet statements for the previous year, and most recent available quarter.

Previous year’s business state of Utah or federal tax returns (2019 or 2018).

A copy of the business lease agreement or mortgage statement for the business location or indicated if you own outright.

A copy of a current business license from the city or county.

A copy of a Utah driver’s license or government-issued ID for a business principal or executive management.

A completed and signed W-9 (W-9 information must match what’s on file with the IRS and the same address that will be used to mail bridge loan funds).

Six months proforma of estimated lost revenue or other documented loss evidence.

Business contact information, including the principal’s name, phone number, email and mailing address.

Nonprofit Entities

Criteria and Eligibility

Must be a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organizations must be established and licensed before January 1, 2020

Applicants must have employees on their payroll for whom they have had payroll taxes withheld (i.e., W-2 employees).

Applicants must provide six months proforma of estimated lost revenue or other documented loss evidence.

Nonprofits must have 50 or fewer employees.

No collateral requirements.

Eligible loan uses include working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses, or other similar expenses that occur in the ordinary course of operations.

Receiving other forms of emergency funding will not disqualify an applicant from receiving loan funds through this program. Still, organizations are asked to disclose if they have applied for emergency funding from other sources.

Required Information

The following required documents and information are part of the application:

Financial statements: profit and loss, and balance sheet statements for the previous year, and most recent available quarter.

Previous year’s federal tax return Form 990 (2019 or 2018).

IRS 501(c)3 designation letter.

A copy of the organization lease agreement or mortgage statement for the organization’s location or indicated if you own outright.

A copy of the organization’s executive director’s Utah driver’s license or government-issued ID.

A completed and signed W-9 (W-9 information must match what’s on file with the IRS and the same address that will be used to mail bridge loan funds).

Six months proforma of estimated lost revenue or other documented loss evidence.

How do I know if my eligibility application was accepted?You will receive a case number from a “no-reply” email almost instantly, if you do not receive a case number via email you have likely not submitted for eligibility to our system. Please try again.

How will I find out if my business was deemed eligible?Once our team has been able to verify the status of your business, you will receive an automated email with a username and password. We have a small team working to review the information registered with the state located here. If your submission meets the other criteria as stated above, you will likely be deemed eligible to move forward for full submission.

We have a small team of people working as hard as they can to verify your business. Common errors include missing or incorrect information in your business name or addresses that don’t match and expired registration.

What are the criteria for my business to qualify for the Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan?Your business must have been registered with the state prior to January 1, 2020 and in good standing with the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. You must have employees on your payroll (W2 employees) under a total of 50.

You must be able to document an estimate of your loss of revenue or other evidence of loss related to COVID-19.

You will not be required to post collateral and other emergency assistance will not bar you from receiving assistance.

All criteria and required documents can be found at above.

What is ‘six months pro forma’ and how do I provide that?Pro forma simply means a document produced for matter of review; in this case a six month pro forma would be a written document estimating costs and demonstrable loss compared to a similar time in your business’s history.

Do I have to waive my rights to confidentiality as a business?No. The question regarding the Utah Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA) relates to your documents submitted in the application process. If you claim business confidentiality your financial documents submitted in the application will be prohibited from release in the event of a records request relating to the ULT Bridge Loan. Claiming business confidentiality will not disqualify you from the process.

How can I check the status of my application?Eligibility – once you’ve received a username and password you will know your eligibility has been verified. If you do not receive a username and password after 24 hours (remember to check your spam and junk boxes) please email bridgeloan@utah.gov with your case number(s). If you do not have a case number you have not entered into our system and may need to try again.

Financial Application – you can check on the submission of your form by logging into the user portal with your username and password. Determinations will be made the following week which will be processed and communicated at that time.

Will all applications be accepted?Unfortunately no, there is only a limited amount funding for this bridge loan. Loan funding will be based on the established criteria and required documents found at above.

How do I send you my documents?To protect the security of your business and its financial documents we ask you to please only upload your documents to the secure application. You can access the application after our team has verified your business and sent you log in credentials. All documents must be uploaded and successfully submitted by the noon (MDT) deadline on April 16, 2020. Additional documentation will not be accepted after the deadline. If you did not submit all the required documentation by the deadline you application may be considered incomplete and therefore ineligible.

How do I find my business entity number?Your business Entity Number is the number you receive when you are registered with the state. You can check out your information by looking up your business here. Providing us the correct entity ID and correct business addresses will help our team verify your business much faster.

I think I submitted the incorrect documents, what do I do?Please email your application number and a detailed account of which documents you need to upload to bridgeloan@utah.gov. Please only send PDF’s as many of our service team are operating remotely and may not have the necessary software to handle other document types.

What does the process for this loan look like?After you have submitted the eligibility a small team matches your submitted information with what’s available through the Utah Division of Corporation’s website. Once they have successfully found your business, checked your contact information and matched any mismatched data, they will create your user portal to the application system. It takes anywhere between 3-10 minutes per application for this to happen, so hold tight! If they cannot verify you, an escalation team will reach out at various intervals to try and connect with the correct information.

Once verified, you will receive a username and password, which you can use to submit your financial documents through our secure portal. After you have finalized your application, you’ll be able to click submit. Double check that none of your documents are password protected or encrypted!

After you click submit, your application with go through a review and scoring process which verifies your submitted information, preference criteria, etc. Every application is reviewed by multiple independent reviewers for your protection and consideration.

Once selections have been made, award letters and denial letters will go out. Award recipients will then receive a contract. Once the contracts have been signed, checks will be requested from the Department of Administrative Services, Disbursements Division, and those recipients will receive a check in the mail.

I submitted my application but I haven’t heard back.The application process will close on Thursday, April 16, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. noon. From there the applications are reviewed by several teams and decisions should start being sent out by the middle of next week (the week of April 20, 2020.) More information on the timelines will be available after we’ve been able to assess the volume of applications.

Business Elevated Podcast

Val Hale and Kori Ann Edwards discuss the Utah Leads Together Small Business Bridge Loan program.